Low Fat Adobo

One of the famous dishes you would hear around the world from Asia is Adobo. It is “the most wanted” dish in the Philippines.  I grew up with it as my favorite dish.  But I think, Adobo is far older than my grandmother.  Judging from the word Adobo - which means seasoning or marinating in Spanish; my hunch is, this dish is born during times Philippines was visited by the Spaniards. So it has been famous; and still getting popular: http://entertainment.inquirer.net/119843/after-eating-adobo-pancit-canton-one-republic-rocks-araneta.

My husband likes Adobo, but not his favorite because, I have to cook it the Filipino way; that is with meat parts that has lots of fat: the ingredients must be chicken with skin, and with or just pork with fat. I have to skim the fat (which is additional work), so my dear would eat it with me.

Luckily, here in England, meats are cut and grouped and sold according to different cuts. They go further on chickens; there are skinless and boneless chickens.

My husband grew up having skinless and boneless chicken breast while my diet about chicken is the opposite of his. The more skin, the more I like it.  However bad this is, or good in giving enough supply of bad cholesterol, the more the merrier.  I like salty foods too.

But as we all do, as I move on to the next stage in my life, marrying an Englishman who made me give up my liking for a high cholesterol diet is a good thing. In fact, a very good thing.  After five years of lower cholesterol diet, my body could not take a highly fat diet anymore.  It complains through ill-bloated-disgusting feeling.  But still I love Adobo, I have not given up on it.  So I thought of creating a low fat recipe that my son will also eat. I was successful.

My low fat Adobo has the same ingredient as other adobo.  The difference is the meat and the way the adobo is cooked.

You can group the adobo ingredient into two: the marinating ingredient and the meat.

Marinating ingredient:

• 200 ml mixed of soy sauce & vinegar 
• two Bay leaves
• Sugar (optional, have some if you are using strong sour vinegar like datung puti, malt vinegar).
• a teaspoon of Saki, rice wine, whisky or white wine (I call this my blending agent; it blends the sweet, sour and salty taste from the strong ingredients)
• 3 big cloves of Fine Chopped Garlic 
• Ground black pepper

Mixed all this together. Make sure the sugar is dissolved. Taste it to know if it will make a lovely condiment. If yes, put in your freezer for a day.

• A kilo of Skinless, boneless chicken cut into one inch in size.
• Sunflower or ground nut oil for frying.

Then marinate your chicken for at least two hours.

• If you like to add potato, peel, then cut these the same size as the chicken. Potato should be not more than half of your chicken.

Fry these. Fry it until brown on the sides. Put it aside.
Fry the chickens until just cooked (this is when the colour is not pink anymore). Mix the potatoes.
Pour back the sauce in to the pan.
Cover and simmer it until cooked.  If too dry or very little sauce, little by little add water to bring back some sauce.

Serve it on top of Jasmine rice.